


Never Have I Ever Been to Prom

by crystalkei



Series: Never Have I Ever Actually Fallen In Love [4]
Category: Never Have I Ever (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post canon, Prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:00:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24518050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalkei/pseuds/crystalkei
Summary: “Who’re you gonna ask to prom?” Trent tilted his head towards the campaign poster of Devi, on the inside of Paxton’s locker door. Paxton shut the door quickly.“I don’t know.” Smooth, bud, you got this.“She and Ben Gross broke up forever ago and you keep circling her, do something already!”Paxton leaned against the locker and looked at the ceiling. “I’m not circling, you make me sound like a vulture.”
Relationships: Paxton Hall-Yoshida/Devi Vishwakumar
Series: Never Have I Ever Actually Fallen In Love [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761826
Comments: 36
Kudos: 138





	Never Have I Ever Been to Prom

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry that this is basically Carly Rae Jepsen propaganda. 
> 
> Enjoy a new narrator and POV!

Hey everybody, I know you’re used to McEnroe but for this story, I’ll be narrating. I’m Olympic gymnast, Simone Biles. Why am I here? It was supposed to be Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, but you’ve heard how flaky that guy is, right? I’m just kidding, he didn’t flake. One of his kids got sick. Anyway, I’m here to tell you a story about one of Sherman Oaks High’s top athletes and dreamboat, Paxton Hall-Yoshida. 

If y’all have been paying attention, Paxton has been crushing pretty hard on Devi Vishwakumar. And rightfully so, she’s adorable! Too tall to be a gymnast but from what I’ve seen, we could totally be friends. Which, by the way, is the relationship Paxton has had with her for pretty much the whole school year now. He went from not knowing who she was at all, to being her friend, to being pretty enamored with her. It has been a rollercoaster for him but he wasn’t interested in getting off, especially if he got to sit next to Devi and scream through some more loops. Did I go too far with that rollercoaster analogy? 

Trent was shoving everything from his locker into a trash bag. Can you see me? I’m there, on the door of his locker! 

“Is that a moldy bag of Hot Cheetos?” Paxton asked, peeking over Trent’s head. 

“It’s sad, I know, but I guess I dropped them at some point and never found them in the black hole that is the bottom of this locker.”

“They smell rank.” 

“I gotta clean out my locker because I’m gonna ask Zoe to prom,” Trent explained, tying up the garbage bag. 

“What does one thing have to do with the other?” Paxton asked, his brow raised. 

Trent shook his head. “Clear eyes, clean locker, can’t lose.” 

“Sure.” Paxton didn’t get it at all but it was best to just go with Trent on these things. 

Paxton opened his own locker and grabbed his English lit book out of it.  
  
“Who’re you gonna ask to prom?” Trent tilted his head towards the campaign poster of Devi, on the inside of Paxton’s locker door. Paxton shut the door quickly.  
  
“I don’t know.” Smooth, bud, you got this. 

“She and Ben Gross broke up forever ago and you keep circling her, do something already!” 

Paxton leaned against the locker and looked at the ceiling. “I’m not circling, you make me sound like a vulture.” 

“Still got that picture from Rebecca’s photoshoot as your lock screen?”

“No.” He was lying. 

Trent reached for Paxton’s back pocket for his phone, Paxton slid over and swatted at Trent.  
  
“Show me,” Trent said, serious as a heart attack. 

“I’m not a freshman scribbling her name on my notebooks, fuck off.” 

Trent only stared. 

“Fine.” Paxton took his phone out of his pocket, turned around, pressing some buttons. 

Trent reached over him, they wrestled for the phone (which thank god had insurance on it, can you imagine how mad his dad would be if they had to replace a cracked screen...again?) The phone dropped but Trent lunged and caught it, standing up and seeing that his lock screen had been changed to-  
  
“Simone Biles.” 

Paxton shrugged.  
  
“That’s _my_ girl.” 

Simone: I love my fans. 

“What? I can’t also love the most decorated American gymnast?” Paxton took his phone back. 

“That’s four time gold medal olympian to you, jackass.” Trent stopped, looking at something over Paxton’s shoulder. “Now’s your chance, bro, good luck.” 

And Trent was gone. Paxton scrunched up his face and turned around to see Devi walking down the hall. Alone. She was wearing those frayed shorts from the time he turned the flirting up to eleven in the pool building and she looked very cute. 

“Hey.” Real smooth, pal.  
  
She slowed her walk and smiled at him. Not the big smile she had, like a regular, caught off guard but polite everyday smile. He was cataloguing her smiles. Can you believe that? This dude has it bad! 

“Hey.” 

Paxton fell in step with her. He didn’t feel great about the fact that she hadn’t stopped completely to talk to him but she probably had somewhere to be.

“Do you want a ride home?” He was eating this hard. Just choking. 

She looked at him confused. “There are three more periods before the end of school.”

“Right, not like right now. Later. After the last bell.” He had never felt like more of a failure than this moment. 

Devi stopped walking and smacked her forehead. 

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I gotta go back to my locker, I forgot my safety goggles.” She turned around and he followed because well he was already in this. 

She gave him a tight lipped smile but kept walking.  
  
“Do you have chemistry with Dr. Cromwell? That guy rocks.” 

“What, because if you ask him, he'll go step by step on the board over what each reaction is so you can write it down and know exactly what is on the test?” Now she looked a little disgusted. 

“I was gonna say because you can catch him over at the arcade in the mall food court playing the old Tekken 2 machine.” 

“The what?”

“Never mind.” 

Simone: If I did this badly on my floor routines I’d never make YouTube’s most searched lists. 

“So, after school-” He did this constantly. He could hear it coming out of his own mouth and cringed every time. If he could just get her back in the Jeep maybe he could recreate that moment when he kissed her and she lit up and so he just kept asking. He’d probably asked at least every other day since the student council election. How embarrassing. 

“Can’t.” Devi bit her lip. He couldn’t stop looking at her lips. “Eleanor just got her license and she’s insisting on driving Fab and I everywhere but she’s driving her Dad’s 25 year old Dodge Caravan. Not the cool ones with the automatic doors or the stow and go seating, the one with wood paneling on the side.” 

“Yikes.” 

“Yeah, not my first choice but you know, I’m still on the Devi apology tour so, it’s worth it.” 

“I think it’s really cool that you’re doing what you’re doing to like fix your stuff with your friends.” 

“Thanks but it’s literally the bare minimum. My therapist has a much longer list of things I can do.”   
  
They made it to her locker and he leaned against the one next to hers. Paxton had a high success rate of a well positioned lean and a sort of half smile, so he set that up. But Devi dropped down, crouching to dig her goggles out of the bottom of the locker. 

The bell rang.

“Dammit,” he could hear her muttering, and then she stood up fast. “Got ‘em. I can’t be late so…”

“So prom, are you going?”

Devi pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and then looked at her watch. “I’m a sophomore, I can’t go unless someone invites me.”

“Right, someone could-“

The second bell rang. And he lost her completely. She groaned and started walking, fast. He pushed off the locker and started to follow her but never quite caught up. 

“My mom probably wouldn’t let me go anyway, not after everything else,” Devi said over her shoulder. 

“Yeah she’s-“

But Devi was already too far down the hall for him to do anything but wave. “See ya.” 

Trent came out of the men’s room just then, wiping his hands on his pants.  
  
“How’d it go?”

“Didn’t come up.”

“It didn’t come up?” Trent asked, surprised. 

“I’m not gonna ask anybody. It’s not that big a deal anyway.”

Simone: Paxton had blown that solid lead from the pool flirting and sure, he could have asked someone else, but it was easier to go by himself. Here’s hoping it goes better next time, bud. 

On the night of prom at Sherman Oaks High, Paxton considered not going. He could be much more entertained at home, playing Overwatch on his PS4. But Trent texted him 25 times asking if his tie was right and which hard liquor he should bring for the punch so he felt obligated to go. 

But then he got a text from Devi. He was on his way out the door when his phone vibrated. 

_Devi:  
Heard there’s gonna be some wild show tonight, what do you know?  
  
Paxton:  
I haven’t heard anything _

Paxton grabbed his keys and headed out the door just as he got another text. 

_Devi:  
My bad! That was meant for Eleanor but uh, yeah I heard prom might be weird! Head’s up! _

Oh, an accidental text. 

That stung. 

Paxton wished he’d been brave and actually asked her to prom. Devi’s default was brave. Right from the beginning. 

Again, he considered staying home but he was already in his car so he decided to go. Besides, if something did go down, Devi said she was interested in what was going to happen at prom so it would give him an excuse to text her. 

The first hour was an absolute snore. He spent more time on his phone looking at snapchat than actually doing anything. But then. 

“Is that a Redskull mask on that kid?” Trent asked, Zoe on his arm, reapplying her lip gloss using her phone camera as a mirror. 

Paxton looked up from snapchat to see a kid in a zoot suit and a red mask walk across the stage and take the mic. 

“The fuck?” he said under his breath. 

“Why’d the DJ stop, what is happening?” Trent was looking over to the DJ booth. Normally, dances had a legit DJ but the prom committee suffered from a lack of planning and so they’d relegated DJ duties to the calculus teacher. He didn’t even have a paid Spotify account and they kept hearing commercials. It was bad. 

A slow jazz started and the kid in the mask started tap dancing. Paxton immediately texted Devi. 

_Paxton:  
Uhhhhh you should come down here right now because I have no idea what is going on. _  
  
A girl in a flowy skirt appeared on the other side of the stage and started some kind of ballet move. People were just standing around watching, confused. Paxton’s phone vibrated. 

_Devi:  
Is everyone okay? _

_Paxton:  
Yeah yeah we’re fine but there’s somebody dancing in a mask on the stage and now there’s a girl doing ballet oh god they just started singing what is happening?_

It didn’t take long for Devi to show up. He caught her by the door when she came in. She obviously left the house in a hurry, her hair was up and she was wearing a tank top and some fluffy pants that were definitely pajamas. Paxton liked the thought of her rushing out of her house because he asked her to come.  
  
“You made it,” he said, smiling. 

“Were you waiting by the door for me?” She raised her brows, surprised. 

“Uh yeah.” He shrugged and kept talking to distract from how whipped it made him sound to have been waiting for her. “It’s only gotten weirder since I texted.” 

“Is that Aidan Polawski in a black trench coat? Did he bleach his hair?” Devi pointed at the stage where there were several people dancing and performing.  
  
“He’s playing the role of Spike, the vampire who is actually in love with Buffy,” Paxton explained, before moving Devi’s pointed hand over to point at a blonde in a leather miniskirt singing off key. “That’s Hayley Smith. She’s playing Buffy but she’s terrible.” 

He didn’t move his hand and Devi tilted her head at him so he pulled away. 

“Buffy, the musical?” 

“It’s been going on for 10 minutes now and the teachers aren’t taking away the mic or reclaiming the stage. People have tried booing but those theater nerds are hardcore.” Paxton folded his arms across his chest. “They didn’t even break character.” 

“This is why I was texting Eleanor.” 

“I figured. But she’s not here.” 

“She’s gonna be so upset when she finds out they didn’t cast her,” Devi said, letting out a little laugh. “But then, if she were a part of this, it wouldn’t be this bad.” 

Paxton scoffed. “I’ll take your word for it.” 

Devi pulled her phone out, started taking pictures, and sent them to Eleanor. 

Paxton airdropped her a few more pictures before nudging her. “I thought you said your mom wouldn’t let you go to prom.” 

“She totally wouldn’t have, but she has a terrible cold and took so much NyQuil I wasn’t worried about sneaking out of the house. She’ll probably sleep til 9:00 in the morning, which doesn’t sound that late but for her it’s like crazy late.”

This was it. This was his chance. As the stage broke into a big ensemble number (badly) he finally had an excuse. 

“Cool,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “You wanna get out of here? I’m starving.”

Devi opened her mouth and then closed it, unsure. “What about your date?”

Simone: he couldn’t have planned this better. 

“Don’t have one.” Paxton offered her his hand. “So, you wanna?” 

Devi looked back at the stage one more time before she took his hand. Paxton waved at Trent with his other hand and didn’t let go of Devi’s hand until he opened the passenger side of the Jeep to let her in. 

They ended up at a burger window downtown, his favorite place to eat shitty food. There were a few tables with tall plastic umbrellas, and hardly any people. 

At the window, he ordered, and before he could pay Devi stopped the girl. “Is this Carly Rae’s new album?”

The girl lit up. “Yeah! Every single track is a banger! My manager told me I could play it over and over again as long as nobody complained.” 

And just like that, right in front of him, Devi had made a new friend. 

“We’ll bring you the food when it’s done, don’t worry about picking it up.” Devi’s friend was already getting them special treatment, that was convenient. 

They sat down and all the courage Paxton thought he had was gone. But Devi was sitting next to him, dancing in her seat, just moving her shoulders and tapping her fingers on the table. She looked adorable. 

“So what are you gonna do this summer?” he tried. It was not great, like the high school equivalent of talking about the weather. 

“I don’t know. Just be around. I have to study for the SATs for sure, I’ve got an August and a September test to make sure I have plenty of time to perfect my score.” 

“Shit, I have to take that next year too.” Paxton had maybe put it off. “You wanna study together?”  
  
Devi pressed her lips together and he remembered the history project and how she ended up doing all the work. Was she thinking about that?

“I make a mean flashcard,” he tried. “I’ve never actually made one but I can do it.” 

Devi mulled it over and then nodded. “Yeah, let’s study together.” 

“Cool.” She started to dance in her seat again, to the beat of the song that was playing. She reached out and touched his tie. “I like this.”

“Thanks,” he said as he pulled the knot loose. “It’s prom attire. I like your pajama pants.” 

“Thanks,” she said, moving her hand across the pants like Vanna White showing the puzzle on Wheel of Fortune. “I got them at Target.” 

Paxton laughed. It was bold and not well timed, but he took her hand as she was waving it. Devi’s smile looked unsure. Before he could do or say anything else, the girl brought a tray with their food and he moved his hand away quickly. 

Simone: As an athlete, you know that you’re going to fail sometimes but I don’t know if I can handle watching this! Just tell her already, man! I can’t stand the awkwardness! 

“You ever think about the world without potatoes?” Devi asked, shoving a French fry in her mouth. 

“This is a Trent conversation. Trent has thought about a world without potatoes. I think he ended up crying about it but he was pretty high at the time.”

“I wouldn’t have to be high to cry about it. I could do it right here if I thought about it enough.” Devi took another fry. 

“You’re so weird,” Paxton said, and laughed before taking a bite of his burger. It was a compliment but Devi’s face changed. 

She cleared her throat and looked away and Paxton could not believe how badly he was doing. Thank god he didn’t take her to prom. Imagine fucking up this badly with an audience of people from school! 

Paxton put down his burger and wiped his hands before turning back to the window. “Hey, can you turn up the Carly Rae Jepsen?”

The girl nodded excitedly as Paxton stood up and faced Devi. “Wanna dance?” 

“We’re at a burger window.” She narrowed her eyes.

“I’m supposed to be at prom but the girl I wanted to go with couldn’t go because her mom’s kind of a hardass. Dance with me?”

Now Devi rolled her eyes and purposely wouldn’t look at him. “You could go back to the prom. It was your idea to leave.”

“Devi, I like you. I wanted to ask you,” he snapped.

She turned so fast he thought she might hurt her neck. 

“Pardon me?” She looked up at him, like she was trying to see if he was fucking with her. 

Simone: Devi, he's not. He’s serious. 

“You like me?” 

Paxton nodded slowly.

“Oh my god, you like me?” He couldn’t tell if she was happy or upset. The tone was confusing. “Oh my god, you like me.”

That seemed better. Seemed more positive. 

“Yeah. I thought I was being clear but you seem thrown.” His hands were starting to sweat so he wiped them on his pants. He thought this would go better. 

“I’ve been busy working on me!” Devi stood up, and she did that thing where she threw up her arms to make a point. “You know, repairing my relationships with my friends and mom and learning how to grieve my dead dad and this whole time I haven’t even noticed oh my god you’ve been _pining_ after me?”

She wasn’t smiling. Was she mad? 

“This is starting to feel like a rejection or a fight. Like the time my mom brought home an American made rice cooker instead of a Zojirushi.” 

“What?” Devi finally smiled. That big smile she had when he did something right. “No! I’m just so impressed, pining! After me?”

“Stop saying it like that.” He smiled back. His heart slowed and all he could think about was kissing her. 

Simone: Me too, man, this is the end of the romcom, right? I love a happy ending! 

“How long has this been going on?” Devi stepped closer to him, 

“Since I kissed you.” Paxton reached for her waist and she didn’t stop him. 

“That’s not true you were mad at me!” Devi shoved his chest, just a little. 

“Your mom called me stupid!” 

“Wait that means...I dated Ben Gross and...oh my god were you jealous?”

“I wasn’t jealous.” He bit the inside of his cheek. “I barely noticed. It’s just that I was surprised.”

“You were jealous!” Devi tried to shove him again but he caught her hands. Carly Rae was crooning a slow song and he started to sway. 

“Okay, I was jealous,” he whispered in her ear, Devi leaned into him, swaying too. Dancing out on the patio next to the big plastic umbrella was better than prom. 

“I’m sorry I made a big deal out of it.” She looked up at him. “It's just like all of a sudden I’m the hot girl in a movie.”

“This isn’t a movie but you’re totally the hot girl.” She blushed and looked towards the window, giving a wave to the girl. 

“I was unaware you’d spent the last three months flirting with me but it’s all starting to make sense and I very much would like to take you up on whatever offer you’re making.”

“I’m not making an offer I just...ugh.” He leaned down and kissed her, frustrated he couldn’t figure out a better way to express himself.

It was better than last time. She was quick to respond, reaching for his face, her thumbs brushing along his jaw and he thought he could do this all day. Her lips were soft and she tasted like chili cheese fries which was, in his opinion, fuckin’ awesome. 

“The hottest guy in Southern California has been pining after me,” she said, against his lips. 

“Who even decided that? Was there a vote?” he asked, pulling away. 

Simone: Yes Paxton, there was. It was unanimous. 

They were finishing their food, her legs in between his, she kept straightening the collar on his shirt and he’d retaliate by leaning over and kissing her while she was trying to straighten it. She laughed every time so he was planning on doing it forever. 

“Dude, that dumb musical thing went on for another hour!” Trent shouted out of his car window. 

Devi froze, but Paxton kissed her again, right in front of Trent. 

“Finally!” Trent shouted, and put his fist in the air, as he got out of the car. 

Paxton rolled his eyes but smiled and leaned over one more time to kiss Devi. “Sorry,” he whispered. 

It put Devi at ease. Mission accomplished.

“Hi Trent,” she said.

“Where was your friend Eleanor? She woulda died!”

“I’ve been texting her all night.” Devi looked at the table and then around. “Shit, my phone’s in the Jeep. B-R-B.” 

She ran to get her phone and Trent looked at Paxton. 

“Congrats on doing something right.”

Paxton shook his head, but took Trent’s offered high five. As Devi came back to the table with her phone, she looked worried. 

“There’s like 37 texts, oh my god.” She sat down next to Paxton and he put his hand on her leg because apparently that’s who he was now. She was gone 15 seconds and he needed to touch her again. 

“Tell her to come out! We’ll tell her everything. I’ve got more video on my phone.” Trent turned to the window. “Hey is that Dedicated Side B? Turn that up, please, ma’am!” 

They spent the rest of the night talking about the wild scene at prom. Eleanor and Fabiola showed up and Trent gave them all the video he had. He told them about the weird finale in between bites of his burger and even Zoe found a TikTok someone had already made doing a side by side of the bad prom production and the actual episode. 

By the time Paxton drove Devi home, it was long after midnight. He held her hand while she scrolled Instagram through more terrible live videos of the production. But when they pulled up to her house, she stiffened up. 

“Thanks for rescuing me tonight,” he said, putting the car in park. 

“As many times as you’ve rescued me, I don’t even think we’re even.” She smiled. “So...are we like, dating now?”

“I was hoping, if you want to be.” Shit, what if she didn’t want to be?

“I do but…” She looked out the window towards her house. “Is it okay that we don’t mention this at all to my mom?” 

Paxton let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He thought she was gonna say something difficult. “It’s cool. Is it okay if I tell my parents, well Rebecca especially? She really likes you and she’s gonna wanna know.” 

Devi broke into one of her biggest smiles. “Of course, anyone but my mom.” 

Simone: I can’t possibly see how that will ever come to bite them in the ass at any point in the future. Seems like a good plan. But hey, they finally got together so that's fun! 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is the point where I'm gonna be slowing way down. I've only got one more planned but if you've got a prompt for a fic like the ones in this series, something you'd like to see, let me know! Also I'll probably be mulling an idea for a lengthy future fic. Anything else you want to see, let me know!


End file.
